Glossary Terms
Image pipeline
The automated workflow that converts, resizes, compresses, and delivers images in the optimal format per device.
An image pipeline is the automatic process that takes an uploaded image and gets it ready for the web: converting the format, generating several sizes, compressing it, and often pushing it to a CDN, so every visitor gets the smallest correct image for their screen. WordPress does a basic version of this out of the box, creating its registered sizes on upload. A modern pipeline goes further with WebP and AVIF conversion, responsive <code>srcset</code> sizes so the browser picks the right resolution, and lazy loading for off-screen images. When this is neglected it's usually the single biggest cause of a heavy page; one uncompressed 4 MB hero image on a phone can sink your loading score all by itself.
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Lighthouse scores vs real WordPress performance: what actually matters
Lighthouse scores measure what a 30-second synthetic test sees. Real WordPress performance is the user, page, and template view. Here is how…